Protocol 500
by ayebydan
Summary: There are four hundred and ninety-nine protocols in the General Manuel that Hux has memorised and none of them include a pregnant force sensitive boss bleeding out in his own bathroom.
1. Chapter 1

Ren was due an hour ago for a meeting with Hux and has yet to appear. The general is utterly seething. Slamming the holopad down onto the conference table he mutters to himself before getting to his feet and storming from the room and towards the other man's quarters. Ren had destroyed rooms and important control panels but he had never been as rude as to be _late_. For someone as punctual as Hux it feels like a personal insult.

He is smug when he presses his finger into the scanner. No one else can get into these rooms but their occupier and himself. He is smirking, while seething, as he marches his way in but halts after only a few steps. The place utterly _reeks_ and dimly Hux recognises it smells like blood.

"Ren? Ren! Are you alright?" He barges into the other man's bedroom and recoils slightly to see that there is blood all over the tiled floor and suspicious stains on the black sheets. Light comes from the other man's refresher room so Hux rushes into to find one of the strangest things he has ever seen.

Kylo Ren is huddled around his toilet naked from the waist down as he cradles his protruding stomach. Blood is on every surface. A hand print in blood is dripping from the ceramic toilet bowl. " _Ren_?"

"Get out." It is the quietest Hux has ever heard the man speak. If anything it is a huff of air with words mixed in.

" I'm getting a healer."

" _No_. Hux, _please_. This cannot go on record. It can't!" Ren falls forward onto the hands that had previously been at his stomach and begins to crawl towards Hux. The sight is terrifying.

"You're _bleeding_ everywhere and you clearly have some sort of...some sort of...tumour or something. We need a healer."

"It is not a tumour." And Ren sounds so suddenly calm that it stops Hux in his tracks.

" _Then what it is_?"

"A baby." Ren sound so sincere that Hux feels his vision swarm. He has heard of things like this. Powerful force users and stories told to show how terrible the Jedi are because while other species can have males carry children humans cannot. Hux has seen Ren's records . He is so very, very, human. And yet it makes sense. The bumps looks like a baby. It explains the blood and the way Ren keeps gritting his teeth and flinching.

Hux stumbles forward and then to his knees and without asking he shoves Ren's tunic up above the bump and presses a gloved hand to the other man's skin. A kick meets his touch.

"There is nothing in the manual about this." Hux states for lack of anything else to say. There are four hundred and ninety-nine protocols in the General Manuel that Hux has memorised and none of them include a pregnant force sensitive boss bleeding out in his own bathroom.

He's going to have to deliver Kylo Ren's baby. Fuck.


	2. Chapter 2

Ren is human. _Human and male_. "Where the fuck is it going to come out?"

Silently Ren pulls a sharp kitchen knife from the other side of the toilet bowl. Hux pales. "What? I'm hardly going to shit it out." Ren snaps.

"I can't just cut you open without any sort of painkiller. That is positively barbaric." And would probably kill him, Hux privately thinks to himself. He _will not_ be explaining that one to Snoke.

"I will endure. The force will help me focus and the pain will give me power. I will use that power to heal my own wounds." That sounds fake but ok.

"You have lost a lot of blood. I'm going to get bacta before I try anything. I can get it brought here. No one needs to know anything about anything." Hux states, fobbing off Ren's protests before they come. The force may be powerful but Hux is not going to leave something like that to chance and then there is the baby itself. What if it is not ok ? Can Ren heal others with his force skills? Would he even want to? He doesn't seem the fatherly sort.

Ren grits his teeth through another contraction as Hux gets his communicator out and requests the bacta. He feeds a story about Ren sustaining a deeper wound than thought in training and then stumbles to his feet to look for towels. Blankets. _Something_. "We need to get you to the bed. We need more space."

"I...don't think I can make it that far." Ren states quietly after a few awkward seconds of them staring at one another.

"I'll help." Hux says softly. He wishes he had any sort of idea what to do but all he _can_ do is try not to panic as he swoops down and hooks Ren's arm around his shoulder, taking his weight and putting his other arm around the taller man's midsection. Not that Hux has ever thought about seeing Ren naked but if he had this would not be how would imagine getting a look at what the other man is packing. Scowling to himself he pulls up and tries to get Ren to the bed as quickly as possible. Ren is simply too big and too heavy to even attempt to be gentle about it.

He knows a baby should come when the contractions are very close together and Ren still has a few minutes between so they can wait on the bacta. He thinks. Ren shuffles to prop himself up on the pillows and Hux nearly throws up when he sees the imprint of a tiny foot against the taught skin.

"I'll heat the knife. Get you some water."

"It is sterilised. I was just about to...you know."

"Right." Hack yourself open. Normal behaviour. Sure.

Fuck.

The buzzer sounds and Hux marches towards the door to take delivery of the bacta. With a deep breath he starts towards the bed while shrugging out of his jacket. This is it.


	3. Chapter 3

Hux takes a deep breath and climbs into the bed beside Ren. "I'm going to wait for a contraction. I mean if you're already in pain and that...well it seems as good a time as any."

A white towel sits at his knees and a stack are next to that. The white one is the fluffiest one he could find though and is for the baby. Ren begins to squirm next to him and when his eyes flutter shut Hux moves in. Fucking hell. The knife goes in just above Ren's groin and immediately Hux wants to throw up. Again. The stench of blood and fluids and _stuff_ is overpowering but Ren is gasping for air and the whole room is trembling with the force. Hux grabs a towel off the pile and presses it against Ren's abdomen to stop the flow and peers into the wound. A foot sticks out of the gap and Hux nearly passes out. _A fucking foot_.

The knife goes flying off to the side and Hux grabs the child by the ankle and pulls until he can get his hands on the other foot and pull at that too. The head almost snaps down but he grabs the child at the last second around the neck.

'All that to nearly fucking kill it you incompetent arsewit', is all Hux can think as he trembles and places the child on the towel. It is still attached to Ren and for a moment Hux looks up to see if Ren wants to cut its chord but the younger man looks dangerously close to passing out so instead Hux brutally pulls the placenta, and some sort of fleshy sack he assumes the child lived in, out. Again he presses towels to the wound and hopes Ren is starting to do his healing thing. The child howls on the towel and Hux paws at its blood crusted chest to try make it stop.

Ren is trembling violently but he presses his own hands to the towel and stares at the child intently. Hux takes that as an order to clean the baby up once he has it dried off and wrapped in the towel the howls cease. "A daughter, Ren. You have a daughter."

He has no idea how to hold or soothe a child so he simply congratulates himself on not breaking its neck. Ren shudders and throws the towel aside. The wound looks angry and red but to Hux's disbelief it is healed over. Blinking, he reaches over and puts the baby into Ren's waiting arms. Ren looks bewildered and in awe at the same time. Hux shifts nervously from foot to foot before gathering the towels and heading to get Ren a fresh washcloth. He is burning with questions and desperately wants to know who the father is but for the moment he simply peers around the corner of the fresher and watches quietly. He can't help but feel that for once, Ren seems human.


	4. Chapter 4

Tidying up seems far beneath Hux but it is a distraction. Ren has not made a sound. The child goes between whimpering and crying but Ren says nothing to give comfort. Whenever Hux looks over he is staring in disbelief and rocking her gently. Clearly, the man has no plan. There is no cot and no clothing or supplies and well this is the man who tried to birth his own child with a sharpened kitchen knife.

Hux is going to have to step up. "You're going to need to decide what to do with her."

For a split second Ren meets his gaze and then it is back on the child. "I didn't think she would survive the birth. I didn't think she would survive inside me at all."

"You went to Jakku pregnant with her didn't you? You fought the scavenger with her. I never noticed you...well..."

"I was hardly huge and I wore thick robes." Ren mutters, pulling the towel tighter around the child as if he expects Hux to step forward and snatch her.

"Snoke-"

"Can never know. Does not know."

"Then we need a plan."

" _We_?"

"I just cut you open and birthed your child, Ren, so yes _we_. We are in this together." It has nothing to do with the soft sounds the child is making or how young Ren suddenly looks. Nope. There is certainly no emotional attachment. Fuck that too. "Who is the ...other...parent?"

How does this even _work_?

Ren shifts on the bed and then places the child on the mattress next to him. "It can only be the scavenger. This is a powerful event in the force and she is the only force sensitive I have been near in a year. I...failed the Supreme Leader. I was not granted an audience."

Well this just gets better. Hux turns on his heel and scowls, clenches his fists, feels his shoulders rise. "The resistance then."

" _What_?"

Hux turns on his heel, utterly defeated. "Where else is there to go, Ren? You've birthed the scavenger's child and I helped. He will kill us all for it. Kill _her_. We can't..I mean can you even _feed_ her?"

He stares pointedly at Ren's very flat pecs. Below them his stomach bowls out in a stretched mess where he is recovering from having the girl within him but clearly he has no way to physically feed her.

"You need to reach out for your mother and then we need to get off this ship." Hux states with more confidence than he feels because he is _throwing his life away_. "I'll start packing."

Before Ren can answer Hux is wrenching open cupboards and throwing articles of clothing on the bed. Ren wants to argue but he can't. Hux is right. Staying is a death sentence for them all. Leaving might give a life to his daughter. The baby is too small and it doesn't cry enough. She should demand food. She only asks for warmth.

He reaches for Leia.


	5. Chapter 5

Ok so this is all I have so far on ao3 and I will try to update this weekend. I had to take my final university exams and such so fic kind of fell to the side. With thanks to my reviewer who reminded me I don't understand the rating system here anymore since it has been _years_ and had it all wrong. I'll keep a link open until I get it right again. X

Ren half expects his mother to not return his attempts to reach her but she is there at the back of his mind, quiet and far away but there. She cannot talk to him the way he can her but coordinates appear in his mind that he has never heard before. As he is communicating with the resistance Hux steals away and returns with a storm trooper uniform and a large duffle-bag filled with weapons, food, a spare set of clothing and blankets. Ren figures his plan before he shares it.

"I'm not stuffing my daughter into a duffle-bag."

"You don't have a choice. I've made it comfy! If you get your gear on then no one will know you look horrendous and we can walk right into your shuttle and leave." Hux says determinedly. "I'm not due back on duty for eight hours now. Our meeting was my last of the day."

Ren stares down at the baby, the way she looks around but doesn't see anything yet. So fragile and weak.

"Fine."

By some miracle they make it onto his shuttle without questions and with the baby silent. Ren had found another bag to fill with more supplies and he makes Hux carry them both as he marches onto the shuttle with his back as straight as he can manage. He loathes handing over his daughter but it looks more realistic.

As soon as the shutter is down and sealed he takes her out of the bag and wanders back to his quarters, leaving Hux to fly them out of the hanger and plot their course into hyperspace. Hux then systematically dismantles all the tracking devices he knows of before making his way back to Ren.

"So the girl is the other parent. That is...something."

"That is the force," Ren mutters while struggling to wrap the baby in the blanket more securely, before reaching into the bag for some sort of food ration she can process. "I told you there was an awakening. I did not realise it began to spread so early. I did not realise what it had done to me."

"And this wakening travelled across the galaxy and knocked you up?"

Ren shrugs. "I am no Supreme Leader or Master Jedi. My knowledge is somewhat limited."

Hux begins pulling off the armour and thinks this sounds utterly ridiculous. But then he has seen Ren stop blaster bolts in mid air. He has seen him jump heights no human should be capable of. He decides to focus on the matters at hand, the matters he can pretend to understand.

"Your mother won't shoot you on arrival and she certainly won't shoot a baby but what about me?"

Ren glances up and offers something between a grimace and a smile. "I tried to inform her that you are the one who aided me but I'm not sure. I hate to do it but you will carry the baby off the ship. For safety."

Fuck his life. Seriously.


	6. Chapter 6

I've been loading this story all day but this is the first new~ chapter. I started this months ago and I'm really sorry for those who were wondering where it went. I had uni essays and exams in my final year and fic was put to the side. I still have that 20 chap, roughly 500w a chap story in my head. Hope you like!

The child gets more irritated the longer they go on and Hux knows it must be hungry. They change the rags they are using as diapers several times and it baffles Hux to think they are a _unit._ Hux does not trust the water on the ship to be safe for a child but he finds a bottle of something alcoholic and has heard tales from his family that it can soothe a child to sleep so he takes a gulp to make sure it isn't rancid and then cotes one finger. Ren is hardly paying attention as he presses his forefinger to the girl's lips but he does take note as she immediately starts sucking.

The new parent's gaze finds the bottle and for a moment he looks enraged and is if he is ready to stand up and choke the life out of Hux before remembering the girl in his arms. "Stop! Look, I know it looks weird but this helps children sleep. It isn't enough to get her drunk or anything."

Ren looks doubtful but Hux pointedly focuses his gaze on the girl who has stopped crying and looks sleepy after a few nips. Kylo huffs and Hux takes that as his instruction to check their progress. He stops through to the control panel and finds them to be on course...to wherever that may be. Organa hates the Order and Hux is not convinced she won't just slaughter her son and granddaughter on the biggest stage of all with him as the warm up act. He shifts from foot to foot before storming back to Kylo.

"You're mother-"

"Will listen to us. I can feel her now. She cannot reply but she can hear and respond in emotions. If anything she is curious. Not of me...but of you."

"i _Me_ /i?

Kylo smirks and Hux kind of wants to punch him in his pretty face. _Wait what?_

"I need sanctuary and bear her granddaughter. You...well what are you to her but a puzzle to form?"

The girl takes that moment to whine and Hux seizes on it and begins to repeat his journey around the ship.

"Enough child." Hux states as softly as he can before walking up and down the corridor with her, knowing Kylo simply can't and giving himself breathing room. He cannot be attacked for aiding the child and Kylo needs his rest. Yes. That is it.

Before he can wrap around the idea that the General wants to speak to him the ships comm buzzes with a connection to her. For a second Hux freaks, and then he remembers his training and balances the baby while bringing up the general's face on the pad.

"General."

"General." She returns with a smirk he has seen too many times on her idiot son dammit. " Finally, I see the child."

Hux shifts slightly before pulling the blanket to offer a better glance. "A girl. She is healthy yet needs food."

The smile breaks him a bit. "We are waiting."

A further set of security codes appear on the computer and Hux presses the girl closer to his chest. He's attached. Dammit.


	7. Chapter 7

The group reaches Leia and the baby gets fed but then it all falls apart. Hux realises more and more that he is attached to the child. He didn't mean to be.

Hux shudders the moment the shuttle is pulled into the gravity field of the resistance. Two large ships appear on either side of them and clamp on to control their descent. Ren is waiting by the doors with the now sleeping child and the few supplies they have and without a word returns her to Hux's waiting arms.

It really has come to this.

His heart is beating too quickly and he feels like he can feel the throb in his ears when the air releases and the doors open to reveal a line of resistance soldiers with their guns pointed at them and a woman he knows to be the General in a blur robe behind them. He is positive he is the only person who hears Ren's sharp intake of breath.

Two make their way forward and check them for weapons but the majority stay trained on Ren as he is simply a weapon within himself. Hux scowls as they jostle the girl and one looks slightly ashamed as she pulls back.

"Enough." General Organa's word is quiet yet firm and a gap forms in the line of soldiers that she eases herself through before making her way onto the ship, her gaze flickering before the three occupants. For a moment she is still, her face a mask that meets her son's own, before she is pulling a bottle from her pocket. "I am...pleased to see your safe arrival. For the child."

She reaches out towards Ren with it but he shakes his head and takes it only to hand it to Hux whose eyes widen as he mutters under his breath and presses the teat to the girl's mouth. Unsure at first she then begins to feed greedily.

"You would not feed your own child?" It is cold and Ren shrinks slightly.

"I would not see my only ally die." Ren returns softly and Hux lowers his gaze. Clearly Ren wants to be the only feeding the girl but his words tumble around the back of Hux's mind. His holding of the child is his greatest protection.

"We are not a threat here. We shall have words before there are actions. First I would see you all get a medical and I don't need to be an expert to see you have lost a lot of blood, son. " The General states firmly. _We are not you._ "Where is the one who delivered her? Are they on danger where they remain?"

 _Oh_.

The General thought them lucky enough to have had a nurse or at least a droid. Oh how Hux wishes. "Um...that would be me. I delivered the uh girl. Cut him open and well...taped him up the best I could?"

Years of training just about cover the mixture of shock, horror and outrage that passes the woman's face before she turns stiffly and gestures they are all to follow her. Ren makes it three steps before he collapses on the metal grates of the ships and then all Hux knows is screaming and guns pointed at him and he turns his back and cowers with the girl pressed to his chest.

Not her. Not as he lives.


	8. Chapter 8

He hears the General screaming and then the end of the boots on metal grates but he doesn't dare think himself or the child safe. The longer he spends with her the more he thinks of her as his own. Without doubt he has held her longer than her own father. He has cared for her. He dares not think of life separated from her though he knows it is coming and soon at that.

"Are you really so ill trained you think a bleeding out birther is a threat? And a man holding a child? My grandchild?!" The shrill words take some of the tension out of Hux's shoulders but not enough. Not yet. Medical aids stream onto the ship and droids take notes in a whirl of screeches and beeps.

"Internal bleeding, ma'am. He must have used his...power to hide it from the General"

It doesn't sound as if he is being spoken badly about so Hux nods to himself and shifts to the side to allow the aids more room, all the while wary of his surroundings. He is so busy watching the medics and the troops now hovering down the ramp that he startles when he finds the General at his elbow. A second later he corrects himself. This is not a General. This is the girl's grandmother, watching the blankets with wide and bright eyes.

"We should get her inside. Please, come with me." She says it softly but both are aware there is no question involved. Despite that Hux offers her the closest he gets to a smile and follows her down the ramp. To hell with Ren; he's ugly enough to cope with himself.

"This planet is colder than the one left. The girl...she-"

"Of course!", and that is all the General says before she has flagged down a member of the resistance and sent them scrambling towards the building in front of them. When they reach the doors themselves a fine and thick blue blanket is presented to Hux to place the now fussing girl in. "Come. My office. Privacy."

As soon as they enter the room and the doors hiss shut behind them Hux is searching every corner for a threat. "No one sees in here. There is a blaster in the top drawer of my desk but other than that security watches the doors and windows on the outside. How I wanted it."

"Your son can-"

"Nothing anyone has on this base would stop my son." The General states dryly before moving to sit in one of the armchairs in front of her desk. "I'm hoping we can talk and perhaps you will learn to trust me enough to hold the girl and learn her name."

There is something there. Something militaristic and respectful between them and Hux relaxes. "She has no name. Her safety was all we focussed on. I...I will bring her."

And so he does, awkwardly crossing the office until he can lean down into the general's arms and place the babe within them. He thinks of Ren's recently murdered father. He thinks of everything he has done to hurt people this woman loves. He thinks of his own life being on the line.

Then he sits in the chair and watches a grandmother learn her granddaughter.


End file.
